Getting to Know Chicago Like a Tourist--Wednesday Journal

This is a lighter, personal post, done to organize my thoughts and material for the next few days of writing, and to share briefly the events of the last couple of days.

Mark and I have just returned from our Birthday trip to...Chicago. 

Instead of traveling out of town, we agreed to play tourist in our own home City. Tourists always know more about a city, I think, than many residents.   Tourists don't have time to take much for granted; residents sometimes lack the urgency to learn, because everything is so accessible that it becomes easy to procrastinate.

Since I began this blog, one of the things I promised I would do, for the sake of re-inventing my life, was to learn more about Chicago and write my impressions. I figure, before you can conquer a city, it's good to learn more about it.  Such high hopes!! 

So, in the days ahead, you'll find some posts about the following:

--The stories behind some of the city's most famous buildings, and a little about their architectural styles: the stones in the wall of the Tribune Tower; the triangular shape of the Swiss Hotel; what the Sun-Times building was originally used for; how the architects of Lake Point Tower cheated with their location....

--The amazingly diverse activities at Navy Pier on our lakefront, and some of the antics we perpetrated there (There is everything from a Shakespearean theater to a miniature golf course; a tropical year-round garden, and a museum of stained glass...and oh, an amusement park...!)

--Two Film Reviews: the first, a surprise Oscar nominee last year ("The Secret of Kells") and second, a current documentary that tugged me in many directions ("Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work");

Also:
This week I'll begin my weekly look at what's happening around my fellow bloggers' sites; and the promised posts about the things I found before I moved, and the stories from my long-ago past they have inspired (a family tree; some hilarious personal photos; and yes, that Betamax machine.)

And a story about a Saint Bernard in my life....which reads like fiction.....

Coming Soon: A Review of my most highly anticipated film of the year: "The Kids Are Alright".